The Great Central Gazette is an independent, not-for-profit newspaper in Leicester, written by and for local people. We are currently recruiting for several volunteering roles to help grow our paper. For these roles, you do not need extensive and specific experience or a university education, just ideas and a commitment to the project! This will be hands-on learning with support.
All roles are remote, but you can join us in-person on Thursdays at our community newsroom meetings. Hours and days are flexible.
We accept ex/offenders and highly encourage everyone interested to apply.
As a volunteer, you will get a one-year free membership to The Gazette co-op. Find out more about membership here.
Newsletter writer x3
We are currently looking for:
What’s On writer — curate and write engaging descriptions about six events coming up in Leicester over the next week, from community workshops to theatre and film.
Food and drink writer — visit your favourite independent cafés, bars, and restaurants and write a critical (but generally positive) review, roughly about one paragraph long with an accompanying photo of your meal/drink.
Sports writer — highlight three local sporting events in Leicester and write a sentence or two about each of them. We like to focus on grassroots sports.
Time: up to two hours per week
All copy must be submitted every week by Sunday, 5pm at the latest. You can find examples of the newsletter here.
Fundraising coordinator x2
We are currently looking for:
Grant researchers — researching potential grants we can apply for, using various online grant portals and own expertise/knowledge where applicable.
Grant writers — drafting larger grant applications (upwards of £20k) in collaboration with our community lead.
Time: two hours or more per week
Social media coordinator x8
We are currently looking for:
X/Twitter coordinator —draft posts, reply to followers, manage DMs, and create highly engaging posts.
Facebook group coordinator —draft posts, promote articles, interact with group members, and moderate discussions.
Facebook local coordinator —share our articles and events to other local Facebook groups.
Instagram coordinator — create visually appealing behind-the-scenes posts about The Gazette and rework our Instagram page in collaboration with our communications lead.
LinkedIn coordinator —share behind-the-scenes updates to our LinkedIn page.
Mastodon/Fediverse coordinator —draft posts, find local people, and build a large following on the Fediverse.
WhatsApp coordinator —promote our articles/updates across two WhatsApp Communities, while growing our reader community on the platform.
Reddit coordinator —draft short summaries of our articles to comment under our posts and research other relevant subreddits to cross-post to.
Time: half day or four hours per week
How to apply
To apply, please email info@greatcentralgazette.org with your name, email, and phone number. Please briefly state what you would like to work on and why.
Your email subject line should be 'Volunteering – (enter position name here)'.
There is no closing date for applications. The start date is flexible.
And finally, we have no bosses or managers. Our volunteers are on an equal footing with our workers, and we make sure everyone's voice is heard. You can find our volunteering and workplace policies here.
Rhys is a seasoned journalist, writer, and community organiser. As community lead, he works across fundraising, community engagement, daily operations and some editorial work too.
